Rocket From the Crypt - “Ditch Digger”
Circa Now, 1992
(Guest Editor - Geoff Garlock)
Sometimes I wonder why I even bothered trying to watch 120 Minutes growing up. It just wasn’t for me. It was hard enough watching Headbanger’s Ball sometimes. Depending on what phase they were in, having to wade through piles of Ugly Kid Joe and Stone Temple Pilots videos just to see that one Morbid Angel video during the Triple Thrash Threat at the end of the show. But 120 Minutes had almost NOTHING for me. I had no interest in all of the Wonderstuff and Dramarama and Pavement and Superchunk videos. Louis Largent was psyched on that Chapterhouse video but it just wasn’t my bag. The videos I would probably care about now, like the random Public Image Limited video, I just wasn’t ready for it. Yet still I would try to tape 120 minutes as often as possible. Try being the key word because I had a VCR without a timer function, so I would put in a tape on Sunday night before I went to bed and just hope that it went long enough to actually tape the show.
End of the day reason I taped it was for videos like Rocket From The Crypt “Ditch Digger”. These rare gems in a sea of indie rock garbage. I was obsessed with this video because I just didn’t get it. I could not put a finger on exactly what the hell kind of music it was and where they were coming from. A bunch of rockabilly looking dudes, all with fake monikers like Speedo and Atom, playing kind of poppy and catchy, but also kind of heavy and intense music that seemed to draw from early rock n’ roll and punk. And they had a horn section. It was confusing as hell, especially to a kid with a narrow scope of music just starting to get into the CT hardcore scene. And when they talked about how Speedo was also in another band called Drive like Jehu all I could think was “man what a weird stupid name.” Jump five years down the line. I’ve discovered Gravity Records and the whole San Diego sound. And realize that Rocket from The Crypt was from the same world as Clikitat Ikatowi and Antioch Arrow. And that I LOVE Drive Like Jehu and Speedo’s other band Hot Snakes, who were a big reason why Panthers started as a band.
But young me had no idea any of that would happen. I was just really obsessed with this one song. It was stuck in my head all the time and I was constantly singing the “Leprosy is fun so let the good times begin” verse. But man, I was obsessed with the energy. The way they were playing in the video, especially the drummer, informed my mental picture of how I thought every band should play. With reckless abandon and energy, putting your entire being into every note hit and every cymbal struck. This was before I had seen hundreds of bands live so it was like a revelation.
All said and done I was never an obsessive Rocket fan. Besides this song and “Scream Dracula Scream” I did not listen to them that much. I listened to Drive Like Jehu and Hot Snakes much more. And I only got to see them live once at the first Warped Tour and watching them in their sparkly shirts with the full horn section did not send my hardcore heart a flutter. I was much more excited to get my shirt ripped moshing to “Hold Your Ground” during CIV. I remember being shocked when Orchid went on tour with Song of Zarathustra and first night I realized that every member of the band had a Rocket from the Crypt tattoo. Intense. That is devotion. If all of their songs were as good as “Ditch Digger” and “On A Rope” maybe I would have a Rocket tattoo on my face. It would go great with a Primus “Skeeter” tatter on the side of my shaved head. I’m so glad I didn’t have access to a tattoo gun in junior high.
2 months ago • 4 notes
